Ascot-Bound Darley Buy Brazen Beau to Strike in Lighting Stakes 2015

After the purchase of Brazen Beau by global racing powerhouse Darley Australia was confirmed on Wednesday, new connections were quick to lay out plans for a Group 1 sprint double in Melbourne starting with the 2015 Lightning Stakes before the horse heads to England’s Royal Ascot in the middle of the year.

Coolmore Stud Stakes winner Brazen Beau will retire after three runs next year to stand at stud for new owners Darley Australia. Photo: Sarah Ebbett.

Remaining with the country’s best trainer Chris Waller, the three-year-old son of I Am Invincible was yesterday purchased for a secret sum rumoured to be in the eight-figure range by Sheik Mohammed’s Darley operation.

A very valuable stallion prospect, the colt is earmarked for a career at stud next year in Victoria but will first look to add some more elite level trophies to his already impressive record.

To date Brazen Beau, originally a $70,000 bargain buy from the 2013 William Inglis and Son Classic Yearling Sale Summer Book for Ontrack Thoroughbreds’ Grant Morgan, has won four of his eight starts for over $700,000 in prize money.

It is the likely price he’ll fetch as a stallion however that is where is worth sits, Brazen Beau having won the Group 1 Coolmore Stud Stakes (1200m) at Flemington back on Derby Day in an impressive display.

His other Group 1 run was a narrow second behind the Gai Waterhouse-trained Almalad in the JJ Atkins over the Eagle Farm mile as a two-year-old.

It is the sprints however that he will stick to when seeing out his career including a Group 1 double at Flemington Racecourse during the Melbourne Autumn Racing Carnival next year.

Brazen Beau is set to target the $500,000 Group 1 Black Caviar Lightning Stakes (1000m) on February 21 and then the $1 million Group 1 Newmarket Handicap (1200m) back at the track on March 14, 2015.

From there he will head overseas for the Royal Ascot Carnival for a final run in the Diamond Jubliee Stakes on June 20 before returning to Melbourne, kicking off his career as a stallion for his new connections at Northwood Park in Victoria.

“He will race in the Lightning Stakes, the Newmarket Handicap and the plan is to then go to Ascot where he will have his final start in the Diamond Jubilee Stakes and he will retire to stud after that,” Morgan told the Gold Coast Bulletin on Wednesday.

“It’s great to get the deal done and five minutes after he won the Coolmore there have been studs calling, so it’s been an intense six weeks and there has been a lot of interest in him from all the good players.

“In the end it’s an absolute honour to do business with Darley and Sheik Mohammed and his team.”

A deciding factor in the deal was that Brazen Beau would continue to race for his current connections in their all-gold silks with Waller as trainer until his retirement the Gold Coast-based Morgan explained.

“It wasn’t something that the owners would have entertained simply waving goodbye at this stage and the deal is a good one from that perspective where nothing changes from a racing point of view,” he said.

“Darley through (Australian boss) Henry Plumptre will liaise closely with Chris himself on any racing plans with the horse but his best interests are always at the forefront so we look forward to furthering his racing career before he goes to stud next year.”

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